1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to walkers and, more particularly, to ankle brace walkers having frictionally and mechanically detachably attached struts extending from a lightweight structurally rigid base.
2. Description of Related Art
For years, an injured or broken ankle or foot was encased a heavy plaster cast. Early medical opinions dictated that the injured person not walk on the cast. With further understanding of the healing and recuperative processes, plaster casts were made with load bearing inserts to permit walking. Such casts were inordinately heavy and tended to cause fatigue and strain of the affected leg muscles. Moreover, they were of great discomfort to the user.
With the developments in plastics and in molding techniques, various walkers were developed as intended substitutes for the plaster casts under certain circumstances. These walkers of plastic materials were more or less successful, depending upon the structural configuration and the mechanisms employed for retaining them in place. One of their major advantages over plaster casts was that of permitting a user to remove them at bedtime and during other periods of rest, assuming that sufficient healing had occurred to eliminate a likelihood of misalignment of knitting bones or damage to soft tissues.
Earlier and presently existing embodiments of walkers made of plastic materials suffer from one severe fault. The simple process of walking does in fact place significant stresses upon an ankle brace walker. As a consequence, many presently existing embodiments of ankle brace walkers tend to break unless a user walks very carefully and very gently.
Presently existing ankle brace walkers generally include a base having a foot bed for supporting the foot and a pair of struts extending upwardly from the base for supporting the ankle and lower leg. A removable foot and ankle encasing boot of soft material is used as an interface between the foot and lower leg and the ankle brace walker. Straps, extending from the base, secure the foot in place and further straps wrapped about the braces and the lower leg maintain the lower leg lodged between the struts.
In presently existing embodiments of ankle brace walkers, the junction between the struts and the boot are a weak point and breakage at the junction often occurs. Furthermore, the loads placed upon the base can be significant and the base may crack or split. Such breakage would exacerbate existing injuries and may be responsible for further injuries.